OPTICAL: IBM claims world's first 3D magnetic crystal"
IBM Research has created what it claims is the world's first 3D magneto-optical crystal, complete with embedded quantum dots with optical properties. The work underscores IBM's strategy for nanoscale metamaterials that feature tunable properties not found in nature�such as magnetic crystals. By gradually melding metamaterials with traditional silicon technologies, IBM envisions a mix-and-match cookbook of metamaterials. The first metamaterial exhibits long-sought magneto-optical coupling. This was achieved by carefully packing magnetic- and optical-nanoparticles into a common crystaline superlattice, thereby coupling their properties. It also enabled a magnetic field to modulate an optical transmission.
Audio Interviews / Interviews on CDText: http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20030625S0025

Monday, June 23, 2003

"SCHOTTKY: Researchers demostrate tunable Schottky barrier, aim for ferroelectric"
Ferroelectric transistors�ultra-small gateless two-terminal junctions between semiconductor and oxide�switch by reversing the polarity of their junction. This is the region where semiconductors are tuned for a single wavelength in a laser diode. But because the region's actions are not well understood, no one has successfully stabilized the ferroelectric transistor. There was a tool missing. Now researchers are creating a model of the Schottky barrier in hopes of finding that missing tool. They said the work could lead to smaller, faster computers.
Audio Interviews / Interviews on CDText: http://www.eet.com/at

"MEMS: Oak Ridge claims sensitivity record for Si MEMS sensor"
Now that it has proved the concept of a "small, vibrating nose" built as a silicon microelectromechanical system, Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee has set itself the task of seeing how small an amount of substance the MEMS design can detect. "From our calculations, we believe that we can make it sensitive to the mass change of a single molecule," said researcher Panos Datskos.
Audio Interviews / Interviews on CDText: http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20030623S0061

Thursday, June 19, 2003

"MEMS: UK firm helps bring MEMS to volume production"
Bringing microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) into mainstream manufacturing has been the goal over the last two years for Surfaced Technology Systems, which created a family of plasma etch and deposition tools to speed the process. STS (Newport, England) said its "Pro" tools lower the cost-per-wafer of MEMS designs for volume production, by streamlining the use of anisotropic deep etched structures in silicon.
Audio Interviews / Interviews on CDText: http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20030619S0041

Monday, June 16, 2003

"AI: software gives virtual guitars a lifelike sound"
Sibelius Software Ltd. has successfully applied the principles of artificial intelligence to give the performances of its music software a more humanlike sound. By crafting a rule system that simulates a human virtuoso, Sibelius and its new "guitar-only" version, called G7, perform music convincingly enough to turn heads.
Audio Interview / Interview on CDText: http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20030616S0072

"SARS: Neural-net scanner promises early detection of SARS"
Researcher Harold Szu, working at the Naval Research Laboratory (Arlington, Va.), has turned advanced target recognition technology into what he hopes will be a method for containing the spread of SARS. His 200-channel infrared body scanner, equipped with an unsupervised-learning Lagrange constraint neural network (LCNN) algorithm, can see into the body at any depth and resolve local hotspots-a sign of diseased cells.
Audio Interviews / Interviews on CDText: http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20030616S0069

Thursday, June 12, 2003

"MEMS: Lab claims world's best MEMS sensor"
Panos Datskos at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee is claiming a new world's record by detecting just 5.5 femtograms with the Lab's silicon micro-electro-mechanical-system (MEMS) sensor. Measuring just 2 microns long by 50 nanometers thick, the silicon cantilevers�like the teeth of a comb�were vibrated by an inexpensive diode laser. Measurements of the frequency of oscillation confirmed that the sensor had detected just 5.5 femtograms.
Audio Interview / Interview on CDText: http://www.eet.com/at/m/news/OEG20030612S0020

Monday, June 09, 2003

"SOLARCELLS: Tetrapod nanocrystals could improve solar cells"
A new shape for semiconductor nanocrystals--tetrapods, rather than simple spheres, rods and disks--could double the efficiency of "plastic" solar cells, according to Paul Alivisatos, a professor at the University of California at Berkeley. Alivisatos claimed tetrapod-based solar cells promise to convert twice as much incident light into electricity, thus improving chemical sensors, biomedicine and optoelectronic devices, as well as serving as strengthening additives to plastic composites.
Audio Interview / Interview on CDText: http://www.eet.com/at/news/OEG20030609S0065

Monday, June 02, 2003

"QUANTUM: Single-electron transistors shed heat"
Characterizing the electron flow and the resulting causes of heat dissipation in low-dimensional nanoscale electronics could lead to cool-running single-electron "quantum dot" transistors, according to Robert Blick, electrical and computer engineering associate professor at University of Wisconsin--Madison.
Audio Interviews / Interviews on CDText: http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20030602S0105

By R. Colin Johnson

Lastest Book:

Cognitive computers—cognizers—aim to instill human-like intelligence into our smartphones, tablets and other electronic devices using microchips that emulate the human brain. Dubbed the “Future of Computing” by the NYTimes, one of the “Best Innovation Moments of 2011” by the Washington Post and one of “10 World Changing Ideas” in a Scientific American cover story “A Computer Chip that Thinks” this book reveals how neuroscience and computer science are merging in a new era of intelligent machines light-years beyond Apple's Siri, IBM's Watson.

About the Author:

Next-generation electronics and technology news stories published non-stop for 20+ years, R. Colin Johnson's unique perspective has prompted coverage of his articles in a diverse range of major media outlets--from the ultra-liberal National Public Radio (NPR) to the ultra-conservative Rush Limbaugh Show.